DRINK COFFEE FOR LONGEVITY?

  Many studies over the past two decades have found health benefits from drinking coffee, although too much of it has also been linked to illnesses. With today’s boom in coffee shops and the addition of caffeine to many beverages, foods and supplements, are we going overboard?

Coffee contains a complex mixture of chemical compounds, but the caffeine is the main ingredient in producing the desired stimulation to overcome drowsiness and fatigue. 

Coffee is extracted from a plant that also contains phytochemicals, amino acids and anti-oxidants, most of which are regarded as beneficial. In fact, coffee has far more antioxidants than most vegetables and fruits. It is these other chemicals in the coffee plant, not the caffeine, that are a boon to health. 

Getting your caffeine from a diet supplement or energy drink might ensure you’re “living the lifestyle”, but you’re getting none of coffee’s help in preventing disease. 

Beside the mild stimulation, caffeine also temporarily increases the heartbeat, blood pressure and production of stomach acid. 

It is important to stress that caffeine’s effects greatly vary from person to person. Some individuals can drink several coffees in a short time and feel no effect, while a single cup strongly affects others. 

Depending on that reaction, caffeine can produce undesirable side effects, such as headache, restlessness, nausea, uneasy sleep, elevated blood pressure and irregular heartbeat. It can worsen ulcers and cause heartburn. 

Although caffeine isn’t formally classed as addictive, debate never ends over caffeine dependence. Most authorities, however, consider regular use “habit forming” rather than a matter of dependence. 

Recent studies have found no basis for earlier concerns that caffeine might contribute to osteoporosis. Worries linger over increased heartbeat and blood pressure, but the renowned Nurses’ Health Study in the US suggests that moderate consumption has no effect on women who already have cardiac disease.

 On the contrary, coffee’s health benefits are now more tangible. 

 Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health reported last year that regular consumption led to a marked decrease in fatal prostate cancer. In another group of men it resulted in a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. A 10-year study in Sweden found that heart attacks were less likely to be fatal among people who had regularly consumed coffee during the previous year.

Women too can gain health advantages from coffee. In one 26-year analysis involving 67,000 women, drinking at least four cups a day was associated with lower risk for endometrial cancer, the most common gynaecologic cancer in the US. 

Coffee also lowers oestrogen levels, thus potentially lowering the risk of cancer of the uterus, which is induced by high exposure to the hormone. 

Coffee has also been reported to lower insulin and might be beneficial for diabetics. 

So should we regard coffee as a longevity drink? No serious institution would endorse the notion, especially since heavy consumption has been linked to higher risk of cardiac death. 

Just the same, it’s appropriate to say that, for most people, drinking three to four cups a day causes no harm, and could provide some health benefits.

 

Dr Gerard Lalande is managing director of CEO-Health, which provides medical referrals for expatriates and customised executive medical check-ups in Thailand. He can be contacted at gerard.lalande@ ceo-health.com.